Terrible Timing
by Jenna McKane
Summary: When Hetty sends Kensi, Deeks, Eric and Nell undercover for 8 weeks what will happen when it becomes personal? Will their newly formed relationships survive? Will this be the last of their partnership? Sequel to A Former Life. DENSI and NERIC.
1. Chapter I

**This is a Sequel to A Former Life, I advise you to read that first so you're not a lost little puppy. **

* * *

A month after Miss Fairway's death things seemed pretty normal. Mr. Deeks went and had a session with Mr. Getz after he came back from his rotation and was cleared for field duty again. Mr. Callen and Mr. Hannah started to include Mr. Deeks in activities that happened out side of the work place because they were slightly afraid that they were leaving him out without any consideration, Miss Blye stayed firmly planted next to her partner, supporting him and his coping mechanism and Mr. Beale and Miss Jones fell in love with each other more each day but still refused to mention it. Now while I might seem like a person who loves to de-rail a good day just to catch a bad guy I'm not. I'd rather the bad guys wait but everyone knows that asking them is out of the question. So today when I get a phone call from a sister agency informing me that they had an undercover case that was rightfully ours, I sigh inwardly. It looks like Mr. Deeks, Miss Blye, Mr. Beale and Miss Jones are in for one hell of a mission.

* * *

A month after Catherine's death I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I met an operative who gave her life up to be with her real, first husband. The way she made everything seem is the thing that mesmerizes me every time I think about it. She was deaf yet she still worked. She knew it was wrong yet she still did it. She knew that it might end her life but that's all she every really wanted since Nick took his last breath in that German building all those years ago.

Its six o'clock when I wake up, I roll over onto my right side and see that Deeks isn't there just a note. I smile sweetly, after Catherine's death we started spending every waking moment together. We don't put a label on what we have but if we did I'd say we're in a committed relationship. The only thing is that scares me so much. I worry that one day, involuntarily he'll leave me or worse he'll leave me knowing exactly what he's doing. And even though he swears up and down that he won't I can't help but have these thoughts. Any girl that has lost as much as I have would think the exact same thing even if she knew just how much the man she called her own loved her. And I know how much Marty loves me even though those words have never crossed his lips. Leaving a note is something Deeks does to make sure I know that he's just surfing or out getting breakfast. I grab the sheet of paper and read what Deeks scrawled onto the paper and laugh. It reads, "Surfing-5:00. Breakfast-7:00. Work- 9:00. Fill in the blanks. ~Marty"

Although we've spent the last month together we haven't actually slept together. I haven't pushed to but I think it's still too soon after Catherine's death to do something like make love. Even though I want to and I'm sure he'd love to, he hasn't mentioned Catherine to me or anyone ever since the funereal three days after her death. I look at the clock and decided that if I shower before Deeks gets back to his apartment he can't suggest showering with me. I shower in 15 minutes and blow dry my curls. When I walk back into the bedroom I go over to the drawer of stuff I have at Deeks' house and open it looking for something simple that doesn't scream "I just spent the night at my partner/boyfriend's house and refused to drive ten miles across town just to get clothing." I find a pair of jeans that I really like but because everything I have over here is slightly dressy I decide to steal one of Deeks' shirts for the day. The shirt I pick is deep navy blue, very appropriate for someone who investigates crime involved with the Navy for a living. Without thinking of the consequences I put it on and start to work on my hair. After a few minutes I get annoyed so I just throw it up into a pony tail and call it a day. My makeup is simple so I do that before walking out into the kitchen. After grabbing a cup of coffee from the already made pot I walk to the living room and sit down on Deeks' overstuffed leather couch.

Within five minutes Deeks walks through the door not even acknowledging that I'm sitting on the couch ready and not in his bedroom still asleep. I follow him as he enters his bedroom he looks to the bed and a flash of worry crosses his face, he then rushes to the bathroom and looks quickly into it. Not seeing me standing behind him he quickly turns around stumbling forward onto me. But before he crashes into my body he mumbles something about it happening again. When he crashes into me I look at him and he steps back quickly stabilizing the both of us. "Looking for me?" I ask innocently. He nods and says, "I thought you left." I shake my head and laugh, "I was sitting on your couch when you came home. You walked right past me." When he registers that I'm already dressed he nods a bit disappointed but as soon as he realizes I'm wearing his top a goofy grin returns to his face and he says, "Trying to taunt me today." I smile and shrug my shoulders conspiratorially. He tugs at the bottom of my (his) shirt that's tucked in and pulls it out. A deep heat pools inside of me but I know that I, he, we can't do this until he tells me his thoughts on Catherine's death. I know they're in there and if he doesn't tell my, trust me we can't have sex. I shake my head with a smile and say, "You're all sandy and if we do that we will both have to take a shower making us both late for work." He laughs and says, "So? We can be late this one time," he pauses and shakes his head then amends his previous statement, "On second thought, if we're late Hetty might go after us with her infamous letter opener." I nod and playfully push him toward the bathroom.

Deeks is ready within 30 minutes and we're eating breakfast at a quaint diner down the street from his house about 20 minutes from OPS. He usually makes breakfast but since he got back late from surfing he decided it would be better to stop someplace to eat. The food at the diner we decided to go to is the best if you can rub it in someone's face so we always get it to go and eat it in the bullpen. Sam and Callen both die over this place's food but they don't know where it is exactly. Better yet, neither does Nell or Eric, who we've been spending a lot of time with lately. Deeks and I are startled by my cell phone ringing I look down at it and pick it up after seeing that it's Nell who's calling. "Nell, we're not late. So what's the problem?" I say quickly, even though we are going to be late if Deeks drives us in.

"Uh. Kensi, we've got a briefing in 15 minutes are you guys on your way in?" Nell says just as fast as I did.

"Yeah, we'll be there in 10. See you then." Deeks looks at me questioningly with a cocked eyebrow. "We've got a briefing in 15 minutes so it looks like I get to drive your Aston this morning." Deeks sighs and I just laugh. The next few minutes are spent waiting on our food. When Marcy the young college waiter comes over with our food we can't get out of there faster, because we have about 10 minutes to make it to OPS 20 minutes away.

We arrive at OPS with 3 minutes to spare and I smile approvingly to myself. When Deeks and I walk into OPS we're greeted with the blank faces of our senior agents, telling me that they obviously don't like this mission. When their faces change to recognition I smile at the fact that they really can detect enough to figure out I'm not wearing my own shirt but not enough to figure out that it's Deeks' shirt.

We pile in around the table in our respective places and I'm expecting to Eric or Nell to start talking but I'm proved wrong when Hetty walks in and says, "For the next 8 weeks four of you will be undercover," She pauses and I look at her wondering why in the heck she's springing this on us so suddenly. "You will be portraying married couples or just couples in a rich neighborhood. Two of you will be tasked with finding out what and how a man in Naval intelligence is using the money he is receiving from terrorist groups. The other two will be tasked with finding out where the money is coming from and following any sort of paper trails available."

"Who's going to be going undercover? Don't tell me, me and Callen are." Sam says almost comically.

"Mister Hannah, don't be silly. Nell and Eric will be the one's working toward finding out where the money is coming from." Nell's face falls into an utter shocked form but she does manage to choke out, "Can't we do that from here?" Hetty shakes her head and says, "It'll be better if you're on site." Without anymore discussion on that subject she plunges right into her next thought. "The next set of partners, Miss Blye and Mister Deeks will be bringing back a set of old alias' Justin and Melissa. The mission is very similar so you won't need to do anything but memorize a new cover story."

"What's our cover this time?" Asks Deeks from my right.

"You've decided to move to the neighborhood, after you uncle, the one you house sat for, passed away. You wanted to live in a house like he did because you were happiest during the time you spent there as a young girl." Hetty says to both of us and we nod when she's finished.

"You'll leave in 15 minutes. Everything you need is already at the houses you will be using. Your GPS' are programmed. First check in will be in one week." For the second time in the last 3 months I'm standing in OPS fully baffled by the words Hetty has said. I look at Deeks who's got a smirk on his face; before I can say anything he beats me to it by saying, "Welcome back wifey."

* * *

**A/N: So what do you think? Check my profile for update days! **


	2. Chapter II

Over the years I've learned to treat new covers like a homework assignment. Homework is a bit like studying and if you don't do it, when there's a test you will be royally screwed with no life lines. An old cover though is like brushing up on the distance formula, a quick run through and everything starts flowing back and soon enough you're ready to ace whatever geometry test is thrown at you.

Being asked to resurrect an old cover isn't always a nice walk in the park though, sometimes you end up stepping in doggy doo. Justin is one of those aliases I don't mind slipping back into, he's not a bad person and in fact he's far from it. There are many perks of playing Justin but the best one is that Justin is married to Kensi's alias Melissa. It means two things, to me anyways; Kensi gets more practice time on long-term, no contact undercover operations and I get to do things that Kensi would never ever in a million years allow me to.

My thoughts are derailed when I notice that Kensi has stepped up next to me. She's not really looking at me just in the general direction of me; her eyes are unfocused and distant. She's absentmindedly twirling her long, curly brunette locks in between her thumb and fore-finger, one of her signs that she's thinking about something vividly. When she senses that my thoughts are no longer in left-field and I'm staring at her she pops out of her trance and just smiles at me a sweet smile I've grown to love. Kensi obviously has a lot of thoughts flowing through her head, because she asks me a question that troubles me just as much as her.

"Hey, do you think Eric and Nell will be OK?" When she asks it her voice is quiet and her eyes soft.

"I'm not so sure but I hope for their sake, relationship friendship and partnership that they will be." Kensi doesn't respond she just nods at me. Kensi's right to think that though, Eric and Nell have never been out in the field together, only Nell carries a service weapon, they've got very little undercover training and most of their security is about as lacking as mine was before I got shot. But if Hetty's approved them for this mission I can't really argue with that, won't argue with that. After that Kensi walks away leaving me to my own thoughts again.

Soon thereafter Callen walks up to me standing alone in the bullpen. His eyes have just about every emotion that can come from a man like him. He looks at me and asks me one question, "If the time comes and your covers are blown would you protect yourself, Kensi, Eric or Nell." I look at Callen shocked that he thinks I'm selfish but I realized right before I give my answer, it's not me who he doubts, it's our tech duo. My honest answer is exactly what I tell him, "I would die for someone who would do the same for me. Kensi, Eric and Nell fall into that category," Callen goes to turn away but my words stop him, "But for the record I would also give my life for the common man who deserved to live." Callen turns back and nods then his turn back to the steely blue of no emotion and he says, "Hetty would like you, alone to go talk to Eric and Nell." I nod and Callen saunters off in the direction of the gym.

I walk up to OPS and see that one half of the tech duo is pacing. Eric's trying to calm her down but it's not working. Nell's almost in hysterics, she clearly doesn't want to do this mission. To jolt her from her thoughts I walk over to Eric's desk and grab one of the whistles that are scattered on the top of it. I blow into the whistle and Nell stops dead in her place. She looks at me and the fear and shock is evident in her eyes, I watch as she goes to turn to Eric but I stop her by grabbing her shoulder and lightly pushing her into the chair to my left. I walk around to the front of Nell's chair and drop down into a squatting position. She raises her eyes to meet mine and goes to speak but nothing comes out. In a soft voice I ask Nell calmly, "What are you afraid of?" She looks at Eric and he nods so she starts talking with a quiver in her voice, "Everything. What if our covers are blown? What if one of us gets in trouble? What if one of gets hurt or worse, dies? Deeks, I can't do this, I'm the analyst not an undercover operative." Her voice trails off at the end.

"Nell, I can't tell you with all certainty what will and what won't happen but I can tell you this, if our covers are blown we have a very strict protocol to follow. You've read it, you know what to do. If one of us gets in trouble or gets injured, Kensi and I will do everything in our power to help while maintaining cover and vice versa." I don't have the heart to tell Nell what happens when someone dies on an undercover operation that just might break her once and for all. I'm glad she didn't realize or mention that I skipped that part because she smiles up at me and then Eric. She looks at her watch and says, "We have to be ready to leave in 5 minutes. We should get started and you should go find Kensi." I nod and walk out leaving the tech duo to get ready for this assignment.

When I get back to the bullpen I see that Kensi is almost ready. I walk to my desk and conversationally say, "Nell isn't going to make the full eight weeks. Eric's likely to but if Nell keeps going the way she is I suspect she'll be back here by the end of next week."

Kensi looks up towards OPS and says, "She's going to drive him nuts." With that I nod and walk up to her desk leaving in tandem to go get the keys to whatever car we're utilizing for this mission. Hetty hands us the keys silently but before we leave she says, "Don't forget what I told you before." Kensi nods and I just smile lightly before exiting her office.

When we walk outside into the parking garage Kensi checks the keys and walks over to the blue SRX. She throws me the keys and I raise my eyebrow questioningly. She looks at me and then says, "I'm not really into driving an SRX anymore." I nod understanding her statement and get into the driver's side; she looks at me and grabs my right hand with her left and twirls the wedding bands that are placed on her fingers. The smile on her face is evident and the thoughts going through her mind are transparent, she wishes it were real. I almost do too.

* * *

**A/N: Here's chapter two, I hope you enjoyed it. As always check my profile for updates & thank you for reading (and reviewing).**

**-Jenn**

**P.S. the picture is from an upcoming episode. It was released a few weeks ago. **


	3. Chapter III

Nell's pacing stopped and we're just about ready to go. I look at Nell and the fear in her eyes is still there. She turns around and faces her purse, taking a mental inventory of its content for the fifth time since we started packing for this assignment. Hetty walks in through OPS doors and I see that she has the keys to the car that will be signed out to us for the duration of this mission. She hands me the keys silently and saunters back out OPS much like the way she came in. To grab Nell's attention I decide that saying her name is probably the best choice, because she's liable to do something stupid if I do anything else.

"Nell." I say softly but still loud enough to grab her attention. She looks at me like a deer in the headlights. It takes every fiber of my being to not keel over dying of laughter at the way she looks. She recovers after a moment and softly says, "I ready to go whenever you are." I nod and start to walk out of OPS after checking to make sure that our computers and everything else is nicely tucked away. Just as I'm about to leave Nell stops me by grabbing my arm and pulling me back inside of the blue lit room of OPS, she looks at me and says, "Hey Eric, Deeks never answered me when I asked what would happen if someone dies on this op, will you give me an answer?" I shake my head and turn to walk out leaving Nell to her thoughts, because they're probably better than the truth, if someone happens to die the op goes on without them.

* * *

The ride to the neighbor just 20 minutes south of OPS is done silently. Deeks is off in his own world, as am I. Long term undercover operations have never been my thing, my longest undercover OP not counting Melissa and Justin, lasted a week. Deeks on the other hand has gone undercover for months even years, I remember him telling me one time in passing that his longest operation ran 18 months. I can't even imagine what it's like to be someone else for that amount of time. I think I would lose myself, and with the history of covers Deeks has had it doesn't surprise me that the only time he mentions any of them when important to a case we're working or to make an analogy that can easily be brushed off.

Deeks' voice takes me back to reality and away from my thoughts. "What?" I ask because I clearly didn't hear him. He looks over at me then to our hands and says, "You've got a death grip on my hand. Is everything OK?" I look down at our interlocked hands and loosen the grip on his hand after realizing that even the Jaws of Life couldn't get them apart. I look up at him and just nod. No words, because I don't feel like lying to him of all people, my best friend and so much more, when I'm going to have to lie to the rest of this town we will be calling home for the next eight weeks and maybe even more.

Deeks makes an unexpected sharp left and I clench his hand tight. He doesn't say anything just looks at me, by now he has pulled the car over and shut off the engine. He's waiting for me to say something but I can't seem to find the words and saying that I think this might destroy our relationship isn't really what I want to do not right now anyways. I like, no I love our relationship but this mission might just throw us deep into a hole. I let my brown eyes meet his ocean blue ones and smile ever so slightly.

"This is going to be the hardest mission we've done together yet." I say with a quiver in my whispering voice, there's now a knot in my throat that is getting larger by second.

"I know," he nods and continues, "We're going to have to make sure that Eric and Nell's covers are still intact while also maintaining our own." I nod slowly and take a deep breath. Deeks grabs my hand and says "Everything will be OK." I nod again and say "I sure hope so."

Deeks starts the car again and gets back onto the main road. The rest of the ride is done silently save for the tapping of Deeks' fingers in tandem with the songs playing on the radio. The house we arrive at is similar to the one we stayed at the first time the only difference is the color; the house is beige and has light blue shutters on the windows. Deeks turns off the car but doesn't get out yet. He looks at me and then says, "Is there anything you, Kensi, want to say before we go into that house?" I nod my head and he motions me to continue so I do but with a weak voice, "The longest undercover operation I've ever participated in last all of 7 and a half days not counting the last time we went under as Melissa and Justin. But you on the other hand have told me that your longest has lasted 18 months and your shortest 6 weeks, not counting the half hour jobs we do at OPS of course." I pause gaining more confidence, "I'm good at the half hour stints we do to catch a break in a case quickly not these month long ones. You're going to have to help me again." Deeks nods and says with a cheeky voice and evident smirk, "I'd be delighted to share my wisdom with you." I scoff and we get out the car. But I silently thank him for lightening the mood like he does. If it wasn't for that I'm sure I would have broken down if front of him and that's not something I really want to do.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys next week is a skip week for Terrible Timing (aka no update) and I'll be spending a lot of that time writing the future chapters so I'd love to know what you'd like to see and your thoughts so far. Also if you catch the little slip (see the last line of the previous chapter for an example. ) I've put in you'll get a preview of the next chapter. **

**As always thank you for your support. **

**-Jenn**


	4. Chapter IV

The house is laid out a bit different from the last one we stayed in as Melissa and Justin. This house has stairs at the back of the house, a living room/dining room to left with the kitchen off of those and a study to the right of the entrance. Upstairs has two bedrooms, one is currently being used as a home gym, because Hetty says that every "young, hip couple has one" and the other is our master bedroom with a connecting master bath. It's also got a beautiful backyard with both a swimming pool and hot tub.

I walk around into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee and then I continue upstairs into our room. I silently laugh to myself as I unpack my many suitcases, because I know that tonight before we go to bed either two things will happen; Deeks will silently sleep on the couch and not complain in the morning about how his neck and back will both have kinks or we will have a playful yet serious argument about who'll take the right side of the bed.

It sounds crazy considering I've been waking up next to him for a better part of the last month but we still have a fight about who sleeps on the right side. Usually Deeks just says that I can have it and in the middle of the night after he tosses and turns for hours he gets up and moves to the couch or even worse he lies in his bed awake staring at the celling, not telling me that he really can't sleep anyplace but the right side. I'm not sure which one bugs me more, the fact he refuse to tell me in the end is probably what hurts the most. The way Deeks doesn't say anything makes it seem like he's too stubborn and prideful to tell me his feelings. I stop my thoughts from going any further into that subject because my heart believes what my mind doesn't, Deeks trust me with every fiber of his being and in every aspect.

Deeks walks in and hands me a cup of coffee from the pot I turned on before I came upstairs and starts on his own bags. Hetty pre-packed most of our bags since we can both tell that we would never wear half of this stuff expect when on assignment. Truth be told though I enjoy wearing some of it, like the summer dresses, the heels that aren't classified as stilettos and stealing any T-shirt of Deeks' I please because I can use the excuse "we're married."

After we're done with unpacking and putting our suitcases away we hear a knock on the front door. Deeks and I look at each other and shrug because we both knew that sooner or later someone would come and see the new neighbors. When we get to the door Deeks loops his arm around my waist and checks the peep hole casually, he looks down to me and motions for me to look into it too. I get on my tippy-toes to look through the hole and I hear Deeks softly chuckle at my little challenge. I turn my head half way around and shoot him a stern look that I know doesn't quite meet my eyes. When I look into the peek hole I'm surprised to see that Eric and Nell are standing in front of our door. They're no longer in the clothes we last saw them in and they're both wearing bright smiles. Nell's wearing a green summer dress that has flower eyelet on the bodice and Eric's in tan shorts with a light blue, short sleeve button up. In Eric's hands is a basket with some very random yet purposeful stuff. I step back away from the door then lower myself down off my tippy-toes and motion for Deeks to open it. When he does what Eric and Nell both say surprise me.

"Hi! We're new on this block too, we live right over there," Nell says in a high pitched over-excited voice while pointing in the direction their house is. "We thought that since we're both new to this neighborhood we could introduce ourselves and possibly become friends!" Nell continues still in the voice I'm now dubbing as teenager-gushing-about-crush voice.

Before we can respond Eric picks up and says, "Yes well that is what my lovely girlfriend Cara suggested as soon as she saw you pull up," Eric pauses and looks at me and then extends his hand and says, "I'm Michael."

"And I'm Melissa and this is Justin my husband." I say while shooting friendly daggers at Nell informing her (alias) that he's off limits and all mine. Nell chuckles and hands me the basket ever so politely and then stretches her hand out and shakes Deeks while saying "It's truly a pleasure to meet you both." I look at Deeks and he nods before saying, "Would you and your boyfriend like to come in for a cocktail?" Nell and Eric both smile at each other and then they both say "We'd love to."

Nell and Eric walk into our cover house happy and cheery. They make their way to our kitchen like seamlessly and then stop dead in the middle of our kitchen. Nell starts signing to Deeks fast, a bit too fast for me to pick up everything they're saying but I'm pretty sure she says, "_There are bugs placed all throughout our cover house. Also we have no way of disabling them without tipping someone off, they're well placed." _

"_There are 5 in this house all on the first level, two in the living room, one in the dining, one in the study and one in the hallway. The one in the hallway is placed to pick up things the other four can't." _Deeks signs while moving over to our bar cart to make Eric and Nell a Drink. He looks at me and then asks out loud, "Champagne or Wine, sugar bear?" I scoff internally at the nick name but reply "Red Wine, tall glass." Deeks just smiles and hands me an already poured glass. I smile back letting my hand linger on the glass for a second too long. Deeks then looks at Eric and asks "Wine, scotch or beer Michael?" Eric clears his throat and then answers "I'll have a beer." I look at Eric quizzically and he just nods reassuringly to me. The last time Eric was on a long term undercover assignment he pulled the trigger of his service weapon and then hung it up forever. Never talking about to anyone ever again, not even Hetty. It's a shame though; Eric's a great shot but I know some people, mainly non-agents cope with ending one's life differently.

"When did you two move in?" Deeks says breaking my trance.

Eric and Nell look at each other, then Eric nods, "Friday." Nell says solemnly. I space out for a very long time, because Deeks is dictating the way this conversation goes. He's keeping it on Eric and Nell or Michael and Cara to test their abilities of keeping a cover. Deeks hasn't broke cover to yell at them yet so I assume that whatever happen on Eric's last long term undercover assignment has prepared him for this.

After about two hours of drinking Eric and Nell decided that they should leave so I get up and walk them to the door politely. When I let them out Eric pulls me into a hug he inserts something into my back pocket and then indicates that I should show Deeks when I get back inside, away from bugs.

I walk into the kitchen where Deeks is cleaning up from our impromptu cocktail hour. I dramatically yawn and he looks at me before saying, "You want to go to bed I'll clean this up." I shake my head and say. "The bed's cold without you there. I'll wait." I walk over to the small table and sit down but not without yawning. Deeks just laughs and hurries himself up. Within three minutes he's done but I'm already passed out with my head resting on top of my arm on the table. Deeks walks over to me and doesn't even wake me up but picks me up bridal style. I curl myself into him even more and wrap my arms around his neck. He carries me up the stairs and gently places me into bed saying "Good night, Kens." I don't hear him get on the bed but I do feel it, so I curl myself into him once more and drift into dream land.

* * *

**A/N: So sorry I've been absent. Yikes. Life loves to get in the way at the most imperfect times. Please review and tell me your thoughts. Update times will be posted in my profile ASAP. **


	5. Chapter V

I'm in a meadow. There's a beautiful sunset taking place. I look behind me and I see Deeks running toward me with Monty not far behind. I smile as he goofily calls my name professing what love he has for me. I turn around all the way and let him pick me up spinning me around. He puts me down and says, "I told you I'd never leave you." I smile, nod and kiss him passionately. Then everything turns into black and I wake up in shock. Even my subconscious has these feelings.

I look to my right and see Deeks moving. He's mumbling "No. No…Please no!" I can't figure out what else he says but he starts to retreat. He curls himself into a ball and continues scream, "No. Take me….NO! NO! NO!" I reach over because I can't take any more of this; I shake him firmly and say "Marty. Marty!" My voice getting increasingly louder each time I say it. Finally after the sixth time he awakes. He looks at me and says, "Oh thank God!" He pulls me into a rib clenching hug and murmurs into my hair "Thank you. Thank you. Thank God!" I pull back and say "What was it?" He shakes his head, not wanting to talk about it. I sigh and go to get up but he grabs my arm and says in a raspy whisper, "I dreamt it was you who died in that warehouse. I dreamt that when I got there your body was cold, you were lifeless and I couldn't do a thing," He pauses and breathlessly says, "Kens, I've dreamt that you were dead," he stops looks at me and says, "Every night since Catherine died. All different scenarios, just the same terrible outcome." I gasp and grab him pulling him into a hug. I look up at him and wipe the few wayward tears that have escaped his beautiful blue eyes. He looks down at me and says, "Every time I wake up after having one of those dreams all I can think about is how many way I've failed you as a partner. Or how many more objects of my past will come back and get you hurt. Kens, I'm so sorry."

I look up at him and say, "The only thing I can count is the number of times you've saved my ass. Without you I would have died 500 times over, Sam and Callen have never been able to stop me from letting my emotions run my choices. You have. You do. You tell me what's worth it, so if I have to endure some of you past for it, fine by all means. I'd rather be alive and have to deal with your past than dead and never, ever see you again. "I pause and he look intently into my eyes before I continue, "You have never once failed me as a partner. Get that thought out of your head. In case you've forgotten, my past has come to bite us in the ass more than once. You're not alone in that subject. Hell we all quit once, because Callen's past came back. So Deeks understand this you are not going to get me killed. I trust you with everything. Heart, body and soul."

We lie down in the bed entangled in each other's embrace. I listen to the steady breathing that's coming from my partner and I soon fall into a deep sleep just like Deeks.

It's seven thirty when I reawake, my brain is a tad foggy, I'm still wearing yesterday's clothing and the last thing I remember is falling asleep in the kitchen. I attempt to stand up but I realize two things, I haven't opened my eyes and I'm not in the kitchen. I gently feel to my left and my hand hits something warm. I open my eyes and look to my left. Deeks' is asleep but barely his eyes keep fluttering open and he's mumbling things I can't catch. I cautiously get out of bed, making sure that I don't wake him and creep out of our bedroom downstairs to the kitchen. I take a quick inventory of the cupboards and fridge then decide on making a small breakfast.

Since I've met Deeks he's taught me how to cook one meal a thousand different ways with just the stuff in my fridge and cupboards. Breakfast has become my specialty. I don't think I've ever made the same meal twice since Deeks taught me how to cook. I grab what I'll need to make breakfast and get to work. Within forty-five minutes I have two dozen stuffed pancakes made, three bacon, cheese, pepper and spinach egg white omelets made and two raspberry mint smoothies made. Just as I'm placing all the food on the table Deeks groggily walks into the kitchen. He takes note of what I'm doing and grabs the orange juice from the fridge before making his way to the now set table. He smiles sweetly at me before sitting down.

"Please tell me there aren't any vines in this." He says holding up the freshly made raspberry mint smoothie. I laugh and say, "That was one time and no, it's vine free." He nods skeptically and takes a sip then smiles at me approvingly. We eat quickly exchanging pleasant conversation. When we're finished I take our dishes to the sink and Deeks taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and he signs, _"What's in your pocket?"_ I look to where his eyes are directed and remember Eric slipping the USB drive into my back pocket. I pull it out and sign back to him, _"Eric gave it to me. He said to look at it together last night but I fell asleep." _ He nods then takes it from me and goes into the living room where our mac is located. He plugs it in and we see information on all of our neighbors pop up. Before we can read any of it in detail someone knocks on our door. We walk to the door then look down at what we're wearing and look up smiling to each other. We're both in yesterday's outfit's, performing the walk of shame. (But we haven't done the deed. Yet. Ever. )

I open the door and a women with blonde hair about 5"6', athletic build is standing there. She smiles at me and Deeks and sweetly says, "Hi, my names Clarissa. Welcome to the block."

"Hi, I'm Melissa and this is my husband Justin," I say pointing to Deeks acknowledging him. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Where are you two from?"

"We've in Los Angeles almost our whole lives." Deeks pipes in and I nod.

"Oh cool! My husband, Mark and I have lived in Los Angeles for 3 years. We moved here on impulse." I look up shocked. She smiles at me and says, "Yeah, we weren't really worried about much then."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your job?" Clarissa smiles and says, "For the past 18 months I've been working in the DA's office as a paralegal." Deeks smiles and she returns our question.

"I'm a personal trainer and he's a banker." She smiles and looks over her shoulder and waves at her husband. "Nice meeting you, see ya around." We both nod and head back inside.

Deeks grabs the laptop turns it on and turn it back on. My face loses all it's color as does Deeks' as we see the suspects pop up on the screen. I flinch when I realize that Eric's on this mission too. His past is now the one that's coming to bite us.

* * *

**A/N: Happy Holidays! Thank you for reading, please review! -Jenn**


	6. Chapter VI

The images flutter across the screen. They're dark and grainy but I know we'd recognize it anywhere. This man has caused so much pain to one we consider family that it's only natural we know every detail about the man. We know his whole profile, and sometimes we all wish that we wouldn't. This man has killed more people than Hetty, Callen and Catherine put together, he's ruined twice as many lives and his charisma is what draws you in then spits you out. Eric was only going in for what we thought to be simple yet vital intel. When Eric was sent undercover two of the other operatives from OPS were the ones providing backup, they're good agents, they're floaters providing help to the teams who need it and going on undercover operations when not. The intel was great, too great. When Eric got the intel back to OPS they realized that there was more still out there. Eric stayed undercover for 3 weeks, he gathered the necessary intel and just as he was about to pull out he was made. Victor Krush one of LA's biggest dirt bags made Eric for a spy. Victor pulled a concealed weapon on Eric and he fired. Eric went down with a bullet in his arm but not before he fired off three rounds from the only weapon he's ever touched. Ever since that day Eric's service weapon is burning a hole in Hetty's collection.

Deeks stares at the pictures on the screen with his open mouth mirroring mine. He shuts the laptop and walks out the door. I follow after him figuring that he wanted to get away from the bugs. "Well now we know that Eric's didn't kill him." He says in a hushed voiced with a mix of anger and shock. "But we didn't find any bullets at the crime scene. Eric hit him."

"I know, I thought he was dead too. But we couldn't find him; he hasn't shown up on any of our radars since that day."

"He's obviously very good at keeping low profile. That's why we haven't been able to find him." He says. "Call Leila. I've got a hunch."

"Call who?"

"Leila, she's the tech who works with the floaters. She helped me and a friend of mine down at LAPD awhile ago."

"Oh, why haven't I heard of her?"

"She works with the floaters more than anything else. And if she does work at OPS, she pulls the night shift, giving Eric the day shift. You've worked at OPS for how many years now? I find it hard to believe you've never seen her."

"Me too. But I guess I never really pay attention to the night shift." I pause and look to Deeks. "Wait, how did you get in touch with her?"

"Hetty. Eric wasn't able to help my cop buddy, because we were on an active case, so Hetty told me to call Leila. I woke her up and she was mad as hell but she was happy to help." He says. I laugh lightly and take Deeks' hand in mine. He looks down at our hands and smiled. "I can't call Leila though, I don't have her number."

"She and her partner are taking over both shifts until Eric and Nell get back. She works with an intelligence analyst named Mark."

"How do you know all this?" I asked defensively.

"I go surfing with her the weekends. She says she and Mark were being forced to work 24/5 for the next 8 weeks the day before we got our assignment. Coincidence, I think not."

"I didn't know you surf with other people beside Eric and Nell." I stated with a hint of jealousy.

"Yeah, I surf with three of my actual cop buddies, two people from OPS and of course Eric and Nell when she's up to it."

"Wait, who is the other person you surf with from OPS?" My blood is beginning to rise, I'm jealous of a girl I don't even know all because she surfs with Deeks. I surf with Deeks too but not very often. My skills at surfing aren't as good as his, they need work so I shy away from go with him. We stop walking and he looks at me and I think he senses the jealousy but he doesn't point it out he just says, "Mark, Leila's partner. They're good friends a little too good to not be sleeping together if you ask me but I can't judge."

"No, you can't. Why haven't you told me about them before?" I feel like I'm learning a new side of Deeks, one that I never knew of. He's got friends outside of our team; a few of his cop comrades can stand him enough to surf with him once in a while and even a surfing schedule that I didn't know about. I wonder if he can't trust me enough, I wonder if his trust in our relationship is dying. "Kens, look at me." He says softly. "It's never come up. You've never asked so I never offered. I'm not lying to you when I say that I'm going surfing."

"But, you're leaving out who you're doing it with."

"I didn't think it was important. You've got a girls night with Nell that I know happens the third Thursday of every month. I know that you two don't always go alone but I don't get mad that you're not telling me who it is your going with."

"I'm not going out with other guys though!" I say in a slightly raised but still hushed voice. I'm mad that he's not telling me these things and I'm jealous. I've never asked who he goes surfing with but I never thought he'd be going with other girls. Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion but I shouldn't have to pry this info out of him. What else is he hiding? "Kens?" He asks softly. "I don't do it, because I want to cheat on you and this relationship. If we weren't undercover right now I'm sure you'd be screaming at me but we are so I'm thankful for that much. Kens, remember what I told you on the beach before we got news of Catherine's death." I nod slowly remembering the happy memory. "I meant ever word I said. I love you and you have no need to be jealous." I go to open my mouth but he stops me by saying, "If you weren't jealous you wouldn't have gotten mad."

"I know I'm sorry, you caught me off guard. I don't think you're cheating on me but you're omitting stuff and that makes me worried. I don't want you to leave me so every little thing in my mind is something that's making you leave." I pause gauging his reaction. "Kens," He says. "I'm not going to cheat on you and I'm not going to leave you. If I have to I'll every day of my life proving you wrong."

"I believe you, I really do it's just…" I let the words die on my tongue as he nods and pulls me in for a hug. "I love you Kens, I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. I know. Speaking of going places, should I call Leila now?"

"Yeah, I've got a hunch."

"So you said." I pull my phone out of my back pocket and dial what would usually be Eric's number. Deeks took the phone out of my hand and smiled when Leila answered. She seemed like an easygoing girl. "I need you to check on a trace we've got set up."

"_OK, what is it. Oh and Mark says 'hi'. "_

"Same to him too. It's on a guy named Victor Krush, he should be on our database."

"_He's not. The trace was deleted six weeks after it started"_

"Damn it!"

"_Did we get hacked? I find that hard to believe but did we?_

"No, I'm betting Eric did it. He didn't want to get notified when Krush came back onto the radar."

"_Why w__ho is this guy anyways?"_

"Eric shot Krush during an undercover operation after Krush shot him first. Thanks Leila."

"_Yep, stay safe Marty."_

"I'll try."

Deeks hands me back my phone with a disgusted look on his face. He runs his hands through his unruly hair and sighs audibly . "Eric stopped the trace, that's why none of us knew he wasn't dead."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back on a schedule! Check my profile for it. Remember, reviews are like diamonds, they're a girls best friend. (;**

**Thanks for reading**

**-Jenn**


	7. Chapter VII

The first night in our cover house is eerie. Nell cuddled herself so far into me last night I started to think only a pry bar could pull us apart. As the night went on though, knowing that she was still in my arms and not in danger made it easier for me to fall asleep. I've spent years dealing with nightmares from my disastrous undercover operation but when I go out into the field they're always more distinct, more lucid and more terrifying. Somehow the presence of Nell calmed that completely.

Waking up in a cover house is not what I was expecting to do this week. I've learned to expect the unexpected but even this wasn't on my radar, or any place close. Usually Hetty only makes Nell and I do little things that take hours at the most. But this, we'll be gone for 2 months probably more. We'll be in danger ever second. And I might just lose the best person who's ever walked into my life.

Getting out of bed without waking Nell, who has her arms wrapped around my abdomen with a crushing force, would be impossible to say the least. So I just lie there letting her dictate the time at which I start my day. Usually, by now I've gone surfing with Deeks, made breakfast had a shower and am well on my way to OPS. Nell starts to stir and I just lie still, shutting my eyes faking light sleep. When she moves just a bit back I notice that she still has yet to unhook her arms from their spot around my abdomen. She starts to wake up fully and within twelve minutes Nell asks me, "Hey, will you get up and help make breakfast." I grumble trying to keep up the rouse that I was still asleep when she started stirring and say, "Uh, yeah. Sure."

My cooking skills are no match for Deeks or Kensi in the morning but I can make breakfast when the time comes. My breakfasts usually consist of eggs, bacon and some type of pastry. That's what I can cook. I've never gotten any complaints or poisoned anyone so I don't try to fix what's not broke. I think it's safer that way. No fires, no burnt toast and no humiliation.

Nell and I are in the kitchen moving around cautious of each other but not really caring that the other is there. Breakfast and fully waking up is the only thing on our brains. In about 15 minutes we're done with breakfast and decide to take a walk outside. Nell grabs her coat that she doesn't need in the heat but wears it anyways and heads out the door in front of me. Her hair shines in the sun giving it unique natural highlights. I catch up to her and reach for her left hand with my right. She hesitates slowly and then looks up at me smiling as she interlocks our fingers.

Nell makes a left down the street where Deeks and Kensi's undercover house is. As we continue walking we see them standing about 2 two feet having what looks like a heated discussion. We walk up to them and start to overhear what they're saying.

"Same to him too. It's on a guy named Victor Krush. He should be on our database." My blood goes cold as I start to realize what they're talking about. I stopped the search on Krush as soon as I could. I didn't want him to have another chance to kill me.

"Damn it!"

"No, I'm betting Eric did it. He didn't want to get notified when Krush came back onto the radar."

"Eric shot him during an undercover operation. Thanks Leila."

"I'll try."

Deeks hands Kensi back her phone with a disgusted look on his face. He runs his hands through his unruly hair and sighs audibly. "Eric stopped the trace, that's why none of us knew he wasn't dead."

Nell stops about two feet away from them, looks at me with a very disgusted face and says, "Who is this guy they're talking about Eric?"

"He's nobody. Drop it."

"No, I'm not going to drop it. It's important, they called Leila." Nell stops talking and notices that both Kensi and Deeks are facing us. She doesn't let that stop her though she continues to get mad, "Eric what are you hiding from me?"

"Nell, I'm only going to say this once to you. You don't get to know. It's need to know and you don't need to." Nell looks up at me shocked and mad with what I said. I know she's thinking about her security clearance, it's pretty high but Hetty hasn't cleared her for a debriefing and I doubt she will. Nell looks at Kensi and Deeks they're both looking at her gauging her reaction. She pretty calm when she says, "Is that true?"

Both Kensi and Deeks nod. "Yeah, even if we wanted to tell you we couldn't." Deeks says with a shrug of his shoulders. "Look Nell, we're sorry." Kensi adds.

"No, I get it." Nell says in a non-convincing voice. I go to say something but Deeks warns me not to by shaking his head. I follow his advice but wonder really how mad Nell is at me. She's got that look in her eye that I fear. The one that says move and you'll die. The one she usually saves for spiders or other creepy critters. "I'm going to go over to the bookstore. I'll see you for dinner." I state and Nell looks back at me with a lightened expression. She doesn't say anything just looks around us. We're in the suburbs she's looking for the book store but she can't find one and I know she won't. She nods after a few seconds dissatisfied but she nods none the less. I walk off down the street and they continue to stand in the middle of the side walk.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. **


	8. Chapter VIII

"What was that?" Nell says as she points her finger toward Eric who's still walking back toward their cover house. I watch him walk away and say, "That was Eric being as honest as he can with you."

"Why does he have to lie?"

"It's sensitive."

'More sensitive than dirty bombs, assassination attempts on foreign dignitaries or terrorist threats?"

"Very. Nell we can't keep talking about this."

"I just can't believe he's keeping things from me."

Deeks pipes in and says, "Everyone is hiding something Nell. You can't expect everybody to be an open book."

"I don't but he's Eric and Eric never keeps secrets."

"Do you know who Karla is?"

"No."

"What about Linda?" Deeks tries.

"No. What do they have to do with Eric?"

"Linda is his mother."

"And Karla is?" Nell inquires quietly.

"It's not my place."

She turns to Kensi and pleads, "Kensi, please."

"He's right. It's not our place but his point is that he does keep secret and so do you."

"Not big ones."

"Nell, you've never told your parents that you work for NCIS. I'd say that's big."

"I'm protecting them."

"But you're still keeping things from them. That's the point I'm trying to make." Nell sighs in frustration, because she doesn't want to admit it but we're right everyone keeps secrets. Even her and Eric, but why does this one hurt her so much? Even I can't figure this one out. She turns around and walks toward a park bench about 30 feet to our left.

I look at Deeks and walk over to where he's standing on the side walk. "Should we bring her back to our place?" I whisper as I get on my tippy toes and kiss right below his ear. He nods and wraps one of his arms around my waist. He traces lazy lines across the small of my back. I move fully into his arms and he wraps his other arm around me. We stare into each other eyes. His are sparkling from the sun. I raise myself onto my tippy toes once again and pepper his neck with kisses while working my way up to his ear, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I whisper into his ear. He caresses my face with his hand and pulls me in for a tender kiss. When we pull away he says to me, "You've got nothing to be sorry for." I look up at his understanding eyes and I feel mine start to water, "Deeks, promise me this." He nods and says, "Anything."

"From now onward we talk it out and stop keeping secrets. We don't have to spill our guts tonight but we do have to tell all of it sometime." Deeks moves both his hands to the side of my face and pulls me in for a kiss that's full of love and fervor. I pull back and look to our left, Nell is staring off in the distance. I feel bad for her, here I am having a deep moment with my boyfriend and partner and she's over there pondering what other secrets Eric are keeping. I look up at Deeks and say, "We should bring her back to the house. Play a game, drink some wine."

"What game did you have in mind?" Deeks says as a seductive suggestion.

"Hey!" I swat his arm but he doesn't seem to mind. Nell's still staring off into the distance and I turn around in Deeks arms and whisper, "Later, I promise. But I think we should get Nell's mind off Eric."

"Hey, is that tree talking to you?" Deeks asks. I'm still facing him in his arms and I'd rather not turn around. "What?" Nell says confused. Deeks points with his right arm and I lean into him further. "Oh, uh no." Deeks chuckles and says, "Well the way you're staring at it, it might as well be."

Nell laughs and says, "Oh that, I'm just thinking."

"So were we."

"It looked like you were making out."

"That too but that's not what I was talking about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," I pipe in. "We thought that you should come back to our house to get your mind off everything."

"The only way that's happening is with a bottle of wine."

"We've got about 10."

"All right then. Let's go." Deeks says in a chipper voice. I laugh slightly.

"What about the bugs in the house?"

Deeks smiles a little and then says, "Don't worry about 'em."

"Why not?"

"We've got a frequency jammer set up. When we went to the car we grabbed it. We had to make it look normal." Nell nods and we all start to walk toward our cover house. Deeks' arm is firmly placed around my waist and I'm leaning into him slightly. It takes us only five minutes to get back to the house. When we walk in Nell takes off her coat and hangs it up on one of the coat racks. She walks from there right to the kitchen. She opens the cupboards looking for the wine glasses but she can't seem to find them. I walk up to the wine cabinet that's in the living room and grab a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and the glasses. I walk into the kitchen and Nell is sitting at the breakfast nook ready to get drunk. I pour her a glass and leave the bottle with her.

Deeks and I walk into the living room. We grab the first game we both see, Guess Who? We sit down on the ground in the middle of our living room and take the pieces out of the box. Deeks runs through the pictures on the flaps chuckling when he sees a funny one but otherwise we're silent. Nell doesn't come to join us like I thought she would. We're sitting in clear view of the breakfast bar so I know she sees us but I'm not sure why she doesn't want to join us. Deeks sets up the game. He hands me my board. I pick a card from the box and so does he. "You can go first." Deeks say with a slightly cheeky grin.

"How about we make this interesting?"

Deeks smile mischievously. "What are you offering?"

"For each wrong guess you make you have to take off a piece of clothing."

"You in too?"

"Yes."

"I'm in."

"I thought you'd be." I smirk.

"Of course! Now, you go first?"

"Is your person male?"

"No."

"I guess that means I'm down a layer."

"Yep." Deeks watches as I decide which layer I'm going to take off. Nell's here still and it's only around midday so I've got to make sure I keep looking decent. I look down at what I'm wearing and decide to pull off my three quarter length shirt revealing my cami. He smiles and takes a jab at my person. "Is your person a female?"

"Yes."

"Is your person a brunette?"

"No." I mutter under my breath and move to out of Nell's line of view. I reach under my shirt and unhook my bra. I push my arms through the holes and pull it out from underneath my cami. Deeks' face looks shocked but it's so worth it because it changes to love and passion in seconds. I walk over to where he is sitting on the ground and drop it in his lap. He looks up at me and smiles while running his hand over the strap of the bra. "So, I think it's your turn."

"That it is. Does your person have blonde hair?"

"It's time for you to strip." Deeks looks at me and smirks. He moves himself up onto his knees. He places his hands on the edges of his shirt and starts hiking it out of his pants. He pulls it out the rest of the way and grabs the ends about ready to take it off. I'm expecting his chiseled stomach but what I get is his undershirt, just like I gave him. I look at him and shake my head while laughing. He smirks and moves to put down the all the people with blonde hair on his board. "Alright now, does your person wear glasses?"

"No." I knock all the glasses wearing persons over and look back up at Deeks. I gulp and look down at what I've got on. His shirt is in front of me my bra and top are in front of him. I can either take off my pants or my cami. Which one do I chose? On one hand I really want to take of my cami but Nell is still here so I can't just yet on the other hand if I take of my pants then I could push back taking off my cami.

Pants it is.

I lean back, putting my weight on my forearms and raise my hips. I unbutton my pants slowly and shimmy them down to my ankles. When I turn my attention to Deeks he's got the cutest grin that I just want to kiss off his face. But if I did that we'd never finish the game. I pull my ankle out of the skinny jeans and place them right on top of my bra and shirt. This is crucial time. I've got only two things left and both would leave me half naked. Not that I'd normally be complaining but Nell's here. Why did we bring her here again?

"My turn."

"Yes, yours."

"Does your person have blue eyes?"

"Nope." He pushes down everyone who has blue eyes and starts with his shirt. He doesn't tease he just pulls it off it one motion. My eyes are drawn to his abdomen, it's perfectly formed. His tan skin radiates and creates a glow the color of honey. He moves to his knees one again and places his undershirt on top of his shirt. He's still smirking and I feel myself smiling too. This has taken a twist I didn't think it could but why didn't I think that it could take this twist, I mean we're basically playing strip Guess Who? But this is going to get riskier I've got two choices neither of them are good. He's got two choices as well but his aren't as hard as mine. For him it's, first the pants come off then the boxers. For me it's what either panties or cami. Leaving me either braless or pantie less.

"Kens, it's your turn."

"Does your person have green eyes?"

"So Kens, what'll it be? Panties or your top?"

"Your choice." I say without a doubt of insecurity. I'm not OK with being braless or pantie less in font of guests but Nell's on her third glass of wine and she'll be too drunk to ever remember all of this. I lean forward and look through to the breakfast nook. Nell's humming a song and bobbing her head up and down totally oblivious to what's happening in here. "I want you to choose."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"Panties."

"Really? I thought you were more of a boob guy than a butt guy."

"I picked what I saw first."

"Oh did you now?" Deeks nods his head and hums in agreement. I look into the kitchen and find that Nell's facing the window to the backyard still humming and bobbing her head. I look down at my panties they're not the sexiest they could be but they're black lace and they'd drive any sane man crazy. I slip my fingers into the top part of my panties and pull them down to my ankles. Deeks watches as I do. When they're on my ankles I step only one foot out of it. With the foot that's still inside my panties I bring it up to Deeks pile of my clothes and set it there. I sit back down on the ground and pray that Deeks doesn't guess right this time.

"Uhh, does your person have a mustache?"

"Nadda." Deeks stands up and unbuttons and un-zippers his pants. He takes them off slowly and puts them on his pile of my clothing. After Deeks sits back down he knocks down the people with mustaches and looks up at me. "Well Fern, what'll it be."

"Uh…does your person have a ponytail?"

"No."

"Thank God." I walk feverishly over to where Deeks is sitting and sit down on top of his crisscrossed legs. I put my hands around his face and look deep into his eyes. No longer am I worried, no longer am I chained to my past, no longer do I care that Nell is in the next room. I move my head toward his slowly, savoring the moment. He meets me halfway with a kiss that's passion could knock anyone out. We stand up slowly and make our way to the couch. He looks at me and asks, "Are you sure."

"Never been more sure of anything." I dive back into a searing kiss. It feels like we're floating on cloud nine. The world around us disappears. It's just the two of us. Deeks grabs my cami and hikes it over my head. He buries his hands in my hair massaging my scalp while kissing my neck. I grab the brim of his baby blue boxers and pull them off.

And just as we're about to resume kissing we hear the sound of plates crashing and breaking from inside the kitchen.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter and the next two are probably my favorite chapters that I've written so far. So fun. Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting and subscribing, it means a lot to me. **


	9. Chapter IX

We pull apart quickly. Our breathing is labored and we're both naked. We look to the kitchen and see Nell throwing the plates on the ground. She's got tears in her eyes and some have already fallen over onto her face. We quickly look to each other and hop off the couch. "We're not finished." I say before I grab Deeks' shirt and throw it on. Deeks grabs his boxers, jeans and undershirt tugging them on.

Nell's in the kitchen the bottle of wine is tipped over, empty. Her glass is half full. She's oblivious to the fact that we're standing in the kitchen. Four large platter plates hit the ground shattering with a loud bang, making both Deeks and I jump. On the ground there are about 15 plates shattered, they look like they should be in a Greek wedding. OPA, anyone?

Nell's not going to stop unless we stop her. I look at Deeks and he nods. We walk over to Nell, one of us on each side. Nell still doesn't notice us but that's OK. I signal Deeks to grab her and he puts his arms around her small frame lifting her up off the ground. I lock my arms around her legs preventing her to kick. She looks up at me, then back at Deeks and just starts crying. Deeks and I silently walk in tandem to bring her to the living room. We avoid our scattered clothes and the game boards as Deeks brings her to the couch in front of the window.

"Nell," Deeks says in a soft, calm voice. "What's wrong?"

"He doesn't love me." Nell says between chokes of tears.

"Who doesn't love you?"

"Eric." Nell starts crying uncontrollably and turns herself on her side facing the back of the couch. Deeks looks at me with an expression that's mirroring my thoughts. How are we going to convince angry drunk Nell that Eric really does love her?

"Why would you say that?" Deeks chimes in. I look at him with a death glare but he wards me off. Nell sniffles in and then says, "He's lying to me."

"Nell, he's not lying to you."

"Yes he is." Nell argues like a five year old after their parents tell them no. "He told you the truth Nell, he _can't_ tell you. He wants to and we want to as well but we can't. Lie down and close your eyes."

We walk out of the living room and head to the kitchen. I make a move to clean up Nell's destruction but Deeks shakes his head and says, "I'm gonna call Eric and have him pick Nell up. I don't think we should wake her up with the noise." I nod and move away from the pile of broken plates. I head back into the living room and wait for Deeks to finish up with Eric.

When Deeks walks into the living room he's quiet. He looks at the piles of clothes on the ground and smiles. "We should clean that up." He says to me in a whisper. I shake my head and pat the seat next to me. "Pass me the laptop." I reach over to the ottoman next to the couch, pick up our laptop and hand it to him. He opens it up and puts the USB drive back in. I look at him quizzically but he ignores it.

"We need to find a way to get hard evidence on Krush." He pauses to look at me and then continues. "We can't ask people directly, we're undercover. We need a connection so we know who to ask so we aren't wasting our time."

"Where do we start?"

"These names, there are about ten of them"

"Divide and conquer?"

"Sure. You take the first 5 and I'll take whatever's left." He hands me the laptop and jogs up the stairs. I download the information on the first five suspects and then pull the USB out leaving it in my lap.

Deeks came back downstairs with his MacBook and a throw blanket from our bedroom. He walks over to the couch and sits back down next to me. He places his laptop on the floor and then mine. He grabs the USB drive and throws the blanket over top of us. We lean down to pick up our laptops and begin to work.

The first three suspects I went through showed no signs of being connected to Krush. They were just regular old people. The fourth person started becoming alarming, Patrick Whilely, a middle aged construction worker with half a million dollars coming into his bank account monthly. It's deposited on the third every month and then he transfers it into someone else bank account of the 15th. He never spends any of it, just transfers it.

"I think I found our guy."

"Seriously, I think I found our guy too."

"Who?"

"Angela Whilely."

"The wife of one Patrick Whilely?"

"How'd you know?"

"Her husband's my suspect." Deeks grabs my laptop and checks the account numbers. They show that Patrick transferred the half a million to his wife's account and then she transferred it to someone else's account. "If we find out whose account it is that Patrick received the money from and the account his wife transferred it to we might be able to get the information to lead it back to Krush." Deeks says. I nod and say, "Should we call Leila?"

"I think that'd be our best bet. I don't want Eric to walk in on us tracking this down."

"But they're supposed to be on the paper trail." I protest slightly.

"Yes, but do you trust Eric to do it?"

"After he deleted the trace on Krush? Not so much."

"And we can't have Nell do it so either we call Callen and Sam to do this or we do it ourselves." I slump back into the couch and sigh loudly. I don't want to call Callen and Sam, we can do this but I know that we should call Sam and Callen. I look at Deeks and against my better judgment I tell him, "Call Leila. If Sam and Callen have an active case, we do it ourselves." He nods and takes his phone out of his pants pocket. He dials Eric's number and waits for Leila to pick up.

"Leila," He says as he switches the phone to speaker. "It's Marty."

"Marty," Leila's voice comes through like a five year old on a sugar rush. She seems nice and down to earth. "Is everything OK?"

"Not really. Are Callen and Sam on active cases?"

"Not at the moment." She responds as a bit of a question. "But they aren't in the building. Why?"

"Have them call us."

"Is this about this morning's trace?"

"It's about a paper trail we need taken care of."

"I thought that was the reason Eric and Nell are there."

"It was, until it became personal. I'm not sure how much longer they're gonna make it." Deeks pauses and turns to look at Nell. "They won't be the same after this. Nell's starting to doubt him and I don't blame her. He has to lie, it's not his choice, but it's not making anything easier." He looks at me and I add, "We're waiting for him to come and pick her up. It's not even happy hour and she's already passed out drunk."

"Kensi, I take it."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry." I say after realizing that we've yet to be introduced. "I'm Kensi, Deeks' partner."

"He's said so many things about you."

"I'm sure he has." I roll my eyes and he looks at me smiling. "Why is Nell drunk already?"

"She got to our wine."

"How much did she have? It must have been a lot if she's passed out already."

"It was. She nearly drank the whole bottle before she started smashing plates." The doorbell rang and we looked at each other. Deeks turned the phone off speaker and said "Eric's here. We've gotta go. Make sure Callen and Sam call us."

We walk to the door and Deeks' calms stature disappears. He looks mad but more than that he looks disappointed. The door creaks when we open it and Eric is standing there with his down toward the ground modeling the stance of a dog with its tail between its legs.

"Hi, Michael it's good to see you again." Deeks says to Eric. His head snaps to attention when he hears his alias' name. If he was surprised or flustered he didn't let on. He just calmly responded with, "It's good to see you too, the both of you."

"Why don't you come in?"

"Thank you." Eric says in a small but confident voice. He walks into our cover house and Deeks' shuts the door. We walk into the living room and he glances around finding Nell curled up on the couch peacefully. "Don't wake her." I say. Eric's head snaps to mine and goes to say something but I stop him. "She's drunk, really drunk. Look in our kitchen." Eric's head snaps to the kitchen and his eyes wander over all the broken plates. He looks up at Deeks who just shrugs his shoulders but I can't just leave it at that. "She did that. Eric, she's never been this drunk before. Not even when we've gone out together."

"Why?" He asks slightly ashamed. "She knows the job. I know she's done things I can't know about. Why is she getting so mad?"

"She's not mad Eric, she's disappointed and upset. It's come up now, Eric and you won't tell her anything. She doesn't want to be here and you know it. This is just adding to her anxiety."

"It's not like I can tell her about it."

"No, you can't but you could calm her nerves."

"How?" Eric asks agitated.

"Tell her what you can."

"He shot me," He says in a low whisper like voice. "What am I supposed to say, 'don't worry he's not dangerous unless we get made.' I don't think so."

"Leave out that you got shot, only bring it up if she asks but she won't since she doesn't know what she's looking for."

"I feel like a jerk."

"I'm gonna let you in on a secret Eric," Deeks says "Being undercover, it's one of the dirtiest things you'll ever do, at least for me, anyways. When you're done you're ties are rarely cut smoothly, something's always going to come back and slap you in the face. You can't do a thing about it Eric. You'll just deal. If feeling like a jerk is how you're going to deal with this then so be it but Eric, you couldn't control any of this. When you're at the mercy of someone you're not at fault Eric." Deeks pauses and looks Eric in the eyes before saying, "You have no reason to feel like a jerk. You're not a jerk, not by a long shot. If Nell can't understand that after she's cooled down then maybe it's best if you pull out of this operation."

Eric nods slowly and takes in Deeks' words. After a few moments he makes his way over to Nell. He looks down at her sleeping figure. She's turned away from us still, so we can't see her face. Eric reaches his hand down to touch her shoulder but he stops midair. He moves his eyes to the window and then back down to her sleeping body. He bends down at the knees and slowly picks her up in his arms bridal style. "Hey, can you open the door?" He asks quietly. Deeks nod and heads over to the door to open it. "Remember, you've got bugs in the house still."

"Gotcha! Goodbye Justin. Goodbye Melissa." Eric says as he walks toward his car. There's a moment when I think it's a mistake that Eric's taking her back to their cover house, she's gonna be just as angry when she wakes up but I believe that Eric's going to try and reassure her. I hope it works. She's got too much anxiety already.

Deeks closes the door behind them and turns to me. I walk into the living room and ask him, "Now where were we?"

"Right about here." He says as he takes off his pants and undershirt again. I take off his shirt and place it on the ground. He walks toward me and wraps his arms around my naked body. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. "This day has certainly been interesting." I say in between peppering kisses on his neck. "No shop talk while making out, Kens." He protests lightly. I laugh and lead him up to the stairs with conjoined hands. He stops short and looks at me, "Kens? Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"That's not an answer." I sigh and look at him with a stern eye. I smile slightly and lean forward toward him. "I'm sure, Deeks. Don't worry about me." He nods and I tug his hand up the stairs. I've surprised myself today. I never thought I'd be a girl who'd be willing to have sex with someone in the next room but I was, I never imagined being so comfortable in front of someone that I'd play strip anything without qualms. But most of all I'm shocked that I'm letting go of the doubt I'm holding. I know Deeks is a good man, he loves me, he's told me time and time again that he won't leave me and now I think I believe him even if that thought does still scare me. I know that Deeks is the one I can trust with my heart, body and soul.

We walk up the stair and step into our bedroom. I make no move to turn off the lights like I normally would. He looks at me happily and then kisses me with more passion than a million kisses. I respond just the same. He kicks the door leading to the hallway closed and I know that I won't be leaving this bed until tomorrow. The best part is, I'm not worried about it at all.

* * *

**A/N: I really wanted to give some fluff before I had to go and write page long fights. Also I'm debating on writing the M-Rated section and publishing it. It's up to you guys, do you want to hear it? **


	10. Chapter X

The young women, Cara was asleep when Michael arrived back at the house they lived in. Cara had met with two other people from the neighborhood after having an argument with Michael. I scoff at their names. They're phony. At least Michael's is. Michael is with some alphabet soup federal agency. Michael, real name Eric, shot me and almost killed me. Today I will take my revenge.

He parks their car in the driveway and walks over to get the young women out of the car. She stirs a little when he picks her up but she doesn't wake. The door to their house is locked so he fishes for the keys in his pocket while he's holding Cara bridal style. It looks hard but he manages to get the keys out of his pants pocket without dropping Cara. He walks into our house and I switch to video cameras. He goes into the living room and places Cara on the couch. Cara shivers so he grabs the light throw blanket resting on the back of the couch and places it over her.

He walks out into the kitchen and takes a seat. He looks puzzled, like he's thinking over something that's very hard to do so. He gets up and grabs a beer from the fridge. He takes a long pull and sets the drink down on the table. He looks into the living room and says "I'm so sorry." He said it to the women so quiet I could barely hear it. But he said it. And today he will find out just how sorry he will be.

He stares into the living room for hours, waiting for her to wake up. She stirs at quarter to seven. She rolls over and he freezes. He becomes a deer in the headlights. She sits up without saying a word. She pushes the throw blanket off and lets it fall to the floor. Silently Cara gets up and walks toward the bathroom. She grabs three pain pills and heads into the kitchen. She does her best to ignore Eric but he comes up behind her and says, "You want something to eat?"

He's testing the waters and she knows that. She replies in a soft controlled voice, "Please."

Eric nods and reaches in the fridge to grab the ingredients of the meal he is making. It looks like he is making a salad. He tosses the lettuce in the salad spinner and then Cara asks, "Can we talk?"

"Here?" Eric questions.

"Yes," She pauses to gather her thoughts. "We need to."

"Ne-Cara." Eric pleads.

"Not now?" She asks

"Not now," Eric agrees.

Eric finishes the salad and pours Cara a glass of water. She smiles a thank you and then they eat in silence. That's when I deduce that they're walking on eggshells with each other. Something happened that they need to talk about but it's too hard for one of them to talk about. Maybe Cara has found out Eric has cheated or even better, Eric's real identity.

Cara finishes first and she puts her dish in the sink before she walks out to the living room. "I have to call Justin and Melissa tomorrow." Cara states as she sits down on the couch.

"Why?"

"To thank them and apologize. They had an entirely different day planed and then I show up and get drunk. They could have told me to go home." Cara says in shame.

"I think you were welcomed company." Eric states as he walks into the living room and sits down next to her on the couch.

"They weren't in the same room as me so I doubt that. If I remember everything that happened, I think I broke plates. If that's true I really owe them an apology" Cara says while trying to work things out in her head. She's obviously still foggy on what happened while she drunk at her friend's house.

"You did. You broke a lot." Eric stated as he turned to face her.

"God," she said as she pushed her hands through her hair. "I feel so humiliated."

"No more than me." Eric says with a laugh. He's trying to lighten the mood but it backfires when Cara's head shoots up.

"You're humiliated?" Cara asks rhetorically. "You? This whole thing is your fault."

"How is this my fault?"

"If it wasn't for your mission I wouldn't have gotten drunk." They're in the alphabet soup business together. Interesting, this will be more fun than I thought.

"Don't blame this on me." Eric states as he gets up and starts pacing the living room.

"What?" Cara screams appalled. It's now a full on screaming match. "This is all your fault. If you would have done the right thing and tell me what your mission was about maybe I wouldn't have gone and humiliated you."

"What are you talking about?" Eric screams at Cara.

She doesn't move from her position, she holds her ground and screams at him, "I seem to recall being in the dark…still. Why?"

"It's classified."

"Don't give me that bull." Cara says and she pokes her pointer finger at his chest touching it twice. "Even on a bad day I have higher clearance than you."

"Sorry to break your little bubble but there is only one way you will ever have a higher clearance than me."

Cara scoffs and then asks, "And how is that?"

"I'll be dead and with the way this mission is going I might as well just sign my own death certificate now." I laugh at what Eric has just said. He has no idea what is about to come to him.

"God!" Cara screams as she stamps her foot into the ground. "Just tell me. I deserve to know."

"It's classified" Eric says and then adds, "Above your pay grade."

"Isn't this bad trade craft? Not telling the person involved in the mission the target of the mission?"

"No." Cara stops and looks at him before he says, "It keeps you safe and out of the danger the rest of us are in."

"I don't need protecting." Cara says.

"You might, you might not but you're getting it. If positions were reversed you would do the same thing."

"No! I would tell you." Cara screams as she walks toward him. She quiets her voice then says, "I would do the right thing."

"I can't, you know that. I'm done." Eric walks out of the living room and grabs his coat. He looks back at Cara and says, "I want to, I really do."

Just as Eric shuts the door and begins to walk to his car I pull trigger on my already set up sniper rifle. When the bullet rips through his chest he falls to the ground. A puddled of blood surrounds his body. Cara comes running out of the house when she hears the nose and I begin to clean up. I wipe everything down and put everything away. When she sees Eric on the ground with blood pooling around him she drops to her knees and tries to apply pressure to the wound. She keeps telling him to stay with her. She might be mad at him but she doesn't want him to die. Finally she takes off her shirt and applies it to the wound in hopes of stopping it. Little does she know that if the gunshot wound doesn't kill him, the bullet itself will.

* * *

_**A/N: **__**Thank you for reading and reviewing!**_

_****__**The oneshot Soft and Sweet is the M-rated section a bunch of you asked for.**_


End file.
